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In contrast to Twitter's newly updated inactive account policy > We encourage people to actively log in and use Twitter when they register an account. To keep

In contrast to Twitter's newly updated inactive account policy > We encourage people to actively log in and use Twitter when they register an account. To keep your account active, be sure to log in at least every 30 days. Accounts may be permanently removed due to prolonged inactivity. It changed from 6 months around early May: https://web.archive.org/web/20230503204041/https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/inactive-twitter-accounts https://web.archive.org/web/20230503204041/https://help.twit...

hablog 3y ago
I assume twitter has like 7 million times as many accounts as whatever this website is though
lawgimenez 3y ago
This sucks, so Twitter will removed my 13 year old account just because I want some social media detox for over 1 month?
- labster 3y ago
  If you need a detox from Twitter, maybe your account getting repossessed is a good thing for your health. Elon is doing this for public health.
  - hammyhavoc 3y ago
    Call it what it is: forced engagement. It's Farmville: "Login to water your crops every x hours."
- wahnfrieden 3y ago
  Yes, time to move on
  - quaintdev 3y ago
    Or ditch social media altogether
naet 3y ago
I've been wanting my real name as Twitter handle but someone took it in 2012, posted one tweet and never used it again. Six months or one month is too short and would definitely damage the platform. But I wouldn't hate erasing accounts that have over 5-10 years without activity (and maybe with less than 20-50 total tweets).
- numpad0 3y ago
  Some inactive users are legit dead with friends still on the platform. It’ll be very mean to erase records of such accounts.
  - mvdtnz 3y ago
    I don't agree with this perspective. People die and the world keeps turning. We don't stop renting out homes that now-deceased people lived in, we don't keep their phone numbers active, we don't keep their bank accounts open and active indefinitely or keep their employment agreements current. I don't see why a twitter username is so sacred.
    - simonw 3y ago
      We don't round up every existing record of that person and set fire to them either.
      - mvdtnz 3y ago
        I wonder if your gym will feel the same way about your reserved locker after you pass?
        kwhitefoot 3y ago
        Your locker at the gym isn't a record of your interactions with other people.
    - yawpitch 3y ago
      Those are false equivalencies… a home changing hands doesn’t wipe out the entire world’s memory of every meal that now-deceased person ever had with friends in that house, every saved voice message on their still-grieving lover’s phone, all trace of their money and assets, or all the accounting entries and signatures on contracts they made during their employment history. The username isn’t sacred… how that human user impacted others, and how the recycling of their account and its history would affect other humans, that’s what — should be — sacred. And it’s not like Twitter is materially harmed by inactive accounts or have a demonstrable need to recycle usernames… they aren’t doing this to recover inactive usernames, they’re doing it (exclusively) to apply pressure to infrequent users to either view advertising or pay for an increasingly meaningless blue icon.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
nirui 3y ago
BTW: 30 days is the duration of one blue check mark subscription. So I guess, in the mind of Mr. Musk, you must "subscription" your free account as well via login in? Never the less, this is a good thing. I set my Telegram account expiration duration to 30 days as well, and I've never opened their app since... I think 2018. To me it's great that Twitter is doing something similar to 4chan, which is making publication temporary. Musk probably realized that most posts on Twitter is worthless garbage anyways (which is also true for almost all opinion/emotion based conversations on the Internet as well, this ones too) and incapable of constructing any meaningful solution to the world's problem. Why paying all the money to store these volatile, useless and maybe even destructive information? Also, this policy has great effect of... shall I put it... testing the real social value of Twitter. Musk brought it for like $10B? That's way over priced ;)
- simonw 3y ago
  "To me it's great that Twitter is doing something similar to 4chan, which is making publication temporary." I think it's catastrophic. Just because some people don't value their own historical content doesn't mean that attitude should be inflicted on everyone else. The amount of cultural, historic value in old tweets is absolutely immense. They tell stories that are both national or global in scale, as well as stories that are much more personal. My own Twitter history stretches back over 16 years. It captures my career achievements, online relationships I've formed, things I've learned, stuff I've published. I have a backup, thankfully, because I clearly can't trust Twitter to treat it with the respect that I think it deserves. If Twitter had been documented as ephemeral from day one this would be a very different conversation. The problem here is that millions of people have entrusted their content to it (over the past 17+ years) on the loose understanding that it wouldn't be thrown away with 30 days notice.
  - DiggyJohnson 3y ago
    Cynically, as someone who isn’t on twitter, I have to ask whether that history is as important as you’re making it out to be? You, yourself, the human being are the real legacy of your past. I feel like your history on twitter pales in comparison. And I know it might not feel that way if you’ve been on the platform for so long. What actually matters?

hablog 3y ago

I assume twitter has like 7 million times as many accounts as whatever this website is though

lawgimenez 3y ago

This sucks, so Twitter will removed my 13 year old account just because I want some social media detox for over 1 month?

labster 3y ago
If you need a detox from Twitter, maybe your account getting repossessed is a good thing for your health. Elon is doing this for public health.
- hammyhavoc 3y ago
  Call it what it is: forced engagement. It's Farmville: "Login to water your crops every x hours."
wahnfrieden 3y ago
Yes, time to move on
- quaintdev 3y ago
  Or ditch social media altogether

naet 3y ago

I've been wanting my real name as Twitter handle but someone took it in 2012, posted one tweet and never used it again. Six months or one month is too short and would definitely damage the platform. But I wouldn't hate erasing accounts that have over 5-10 years without activity (and maybe with less than 20-50 total tweets).

numpad0 3y ago
Some inactive users are legit dead with friends still on the platform. It’ll be very mean to erase records of such accounts.
- mvdtnz 3y ago
  I don't agree with this perspective. People die and the world keeps turning. We don't stop renting out homes that now-deceased people lived in, we don't keep their phone numbers active, we don't keep their bank accounts open and active indefinitely or keep their employment agreements current. I don't see why a twitter username is so sacred.
  - simonw 3y ago
    We don't round up every existing record of that person and set fire to them either.
    - mvdtnz 3y ago
      I wonder if your gym will feel the same way about your reserved locker after you pass?
      - kwhitefoot 3y ago
        Your locker at the gym isn't a record of your interactions with other people.
  - yawpitch 3y ago
    Those are false equivalencies… a home changing hands doesn’t wipe out the entire world’s memory of every meal that now-deceased person ever had with friends in that house, every saved voice message on their still-grieving lover’s phone, all trace of their money and assets, or all the accounting entries and signatures on contracts they made during their employment history. The username isn’t sacred… how that human user impacted others, and how the recycling of their account and its history would affect other humans, that’s what — should be — sacred. And it’s not like Twitter is materially harmed by inactive accounts or have a demonstrable need to recycle usernames… they aren’t doing this to recover inactive usernames, they’re doing it (exclusively) to apply pressure to infrequent users to either view advertising or pay for an increasingly meaningless blue icon.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

nirui 3y ago

BTW: 30 days is the duration of one blue check mark subscription. So I guess, in the mind of Mr. Musk, you must "subscription" your free account as well via login in? Never the less, this is a good thing. I set my Telegram account expiration duration to 30 days as well, and I've never opened their app since... I think 2018. To me it's great that Twitter is doing something similar to 4chan, which is making publication temporary. Musk probably realized that most posts on Twitter is worthless garbage anyways (which is also true for almost all opinion/emotion based conversations on the Internet as well, this ones too) and incapable of constructing any meaningful solution to the world's problem. Why paying all the money to store these volatile, useless and maybe even destructive information? Also, this policy has great effect of... shall I put it... testing the real social value of Twitter. Musk brought it for like $10B? That's way over priced ;)

simonw 3y ago
"To me it's great that Twitter is doing something similar to 4chan, which is making publication temporary." I think it's catastrophic. Just because some people don't value their own historical content doesn't mean that attitude should be inflicted on everyone else. The amount of cultural, historic value in old tweets is absolutely immense. They tell stories that are both national or global in scale, as well as stories that are much more personal. My own Twitter history stretches back over 16 years. It captures my career achievements, online relationships I've formed, things I've learned, stuff I've published. I have a backup, thankfully, because I clearly can't trust Twitter to treat it with the respect that I think it deserves. If Twitter had been documented as ephemeral from day one this would be a very different conversation. The problem here is that millions of people have entrusted their content to it (over the past 17+ years) on the loose understanding that it wouldn't be thrown away with 30 days notice.
- DiggyJohnson 3y ago
  Cynically, as someone who isn’t on twitter, I have to ask whether that history is as important as you’re making it out to be? You, yourself, the human being are the real legacy of your past. I feel like your history on twitter pales in comparison. And I know it might not feel that way if you’ve been on the platform for so long. What actually matters?